Follow the money
$473 billion
A team of researchers sponsored by a coalition of solar professionals, called the Local Solar Roadmap, a study that looked at the holistic grid and incorporated local solar into grid and system planning. The model calculated a least-cost development plan for the grid.
Here’s what they found: If we invest in local solar,energy storage and other distributed energy resource (DER) technologies — for schools, businesses, farms, apartments and homes — we can save $473 billion on electricity bills between now and 2050. This means deploying at least 247 gigawatts of local rooftop and community solar over the next three decades, enough to power over 25 percent of U.S. homes.
The researchers found that scaling local solar is “actually the most cost-effective way to meet our nation’s climate goals, while creating 2 million jobs along the way, helping to build a sustainable economy. Not only is it the most cost-effective way to meet our nation’s climate goals, but it will also boost resilience as local communities and businesses contend with wildly variant weather patterns — increased storm severity, more devastating wildfires and longer and stronger hurricane seasons — stemming from the climate crisis.”